편집자 한마디!

국내외 결핵(TB)뉴스

학술연구자료

STOP-TB한국사무국 소식

결핵 예방을 위해 1900년대 초에 개발된 BCG 백신이 인체 면역체계를 강화하는 메커니즘으로 다양한 질환의 치료에 시도되어지고 있습니다. 아래 기사를 보면 초기 방광암 치료를 위한 BCG 백신 사용이 치매 위험을 줄일 수 있다는 연구 결과도 있습니다. 또한 BCG 백신이 코로나19를 비롯한 다른 전염병 예방에도 효과를 낼 수 있을 것으로 기대를 모았으나, 최근 NEJM에 발표된 의료종사자의 코로나 19 예방에 대한 BCG백신 무작위 시험에서 위약보다 코로나 19의 위험을 더 낮추지는 못했다는 결과가 나왔습니다. 아래 기사 내용 참조 부탁드립니다.
결핵 예방하는 BCG 백신, 노인 방광암 환자의 치매까지 예방? A world-leading international trial into the immune boosting benefits of the TB vaccine, bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), has found it does not protect healthcare workers against COVID-19.

The UN General Assembly will hold the second High-Level Meeting on TB on 22 September 2023. The application process for special accreditation to attend the meeting is now open. The deadline for registration is 19 June 2023. For full details about the registration process, click here.

A recent systematic review, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO), demonstrated that the prevalence of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is high among patients with TB. Published evidence on the safety and effectiveness of co-administering treatment for rifampicin-resistant TB and HCV co-infection is extremely scarce and insufficient as a basis to develop global policy recommendations on this intervention. To respond to the need for guidance in this area in the absence of published data, WHO's Global TB Program, is initiating a process to collect ‘Expert Evidence’ with a deadline 31 May 2023. Full details about the call are available here.

The TB Europe Coalition released a guideline for civil society organizations and TB-affected communities 'Communication to facilitate initiation and launch of multisectoral accountability framework to accelerate progress to end TB (MAF-TB) at the country level' . The publication addresses the question: Why is MAF-TB so important in the fight against TB and what audiences should be engaged in its launch?

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the WHO Civil Society Task Force on TB released a joint statement highlighting key priorities for Member States and other stakeholders to inform preparations for the UN Multi-stakeholder hearing and second UN High-Level Meeting on TB. The joint statement calls on Member States, partners, international agencies, and communities to join forces to collectively drive a response that matches the scale of the TB epidemic.

To support the Call to Action and the rollout of the new 6-month regimen for the treatment of drug-resistant TB, the World Health Organization (WHO) has established the WHO BPaLM Accelerator Platform that is a forum for technical discussions and exchanges among stakeholders who are involved in the implementation of the BPaLM regimen. You are invited to participate in the fourth meeting of the WHO BPaLM Accelerator Platform on 9 May 2023. The Zoom link for the meeting is available here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) released for the first-time the WHO standard: Universal access to rapid tuberculosis diagnostics, setting benchmarks to: achieve universal access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics; increase bacteriologically-confirmed TB and detection of drug resistance; and reduce the time to diagnosis. WHO-recommended rapid TB diagnostics are highly accurate, cost-effective, reduce the time to treatment initiation, and impact patient-important outcomes.

Treatment Action Group (TAG) organized a webinar on 13 April 2023 providing an overview of the TB vaccine pipeline, based on TAG’s recent Tuberculosis Vaccines Pipeline Report including the different candidates at different stages of research, and ongoing and upcoming studies that advocates should closely follow. Webinar materials are now available online and can be accessed here.

Zendal and IAVI announced the signing of an agreement for end-to-end development of the TB vaccine candidate MTBVAC. The agreement provides a framework for the future of the collaboration that the partners first announced in 2021. MTBVAC is one of the most promising new TB vaccines in the pipeline.

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) has elected a new Community Advisory Panel. The Union’s Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) is a voluntary group of engaged members of affected communities and civil society from across the world. They advise The Union’s Board and management on how best to address the needs of affected communities and civil society through the organization's activities. UCAP also lead Community Connect coordination at The Union World Conference on Lung Health.

Lecturers of the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University have developed MTB Strip Test Kit for TB diagnosis that is accurate and easy to use, guaranteed by the 2023 Invention Award from the National Research Council of Thailand — Another hope to reduce the spread of TB in Thailand.

Adults who have an increased risk for TB should be screened for latent TB infection, according to a final recommendation statement from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Screening for latent TB infection in people at increased risk is an effective way to identify the infection so that it can be treated before it progresses to active TB.

Despite it being preventable, treatable, and curable, TB remains one of the most serious infectious diseases affecting children. At the 2018 UN High-Level Meeting on TB, countries' heads of state and governments committed to treating 3.5 million children with TB by 2022. By the end of 2021, only 54% of that target had been met. Why is this so difficult? The answer lies in the steps taken to prevent, detect and treat TB. Source: Devex

Ahead of Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) annual shareholders meeting, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) demanded that the US corporation publicly commit now to not enforce its secondary patents on the TB drug bedaquiline in all countries with a high burden of TB, and allow generic manufacturers to supply more affordable, quality-assured generic versions of this lifesaving drug to everyone, everywhere who needs it. While J&J’s patent on the base compound of bedaquiline expires in 2023 in most countries, it has resorted to 'patent evergreening' by filing additional patents to extend its monopoly on the drug until 2027 in many high-TB-burden countries. In a landmark decision last month, however, the Indian Patent Office rejected one such evergreening attempt by J&J, by denying the corporation a secondary patent in the country, which would have extended its monopoly for four more years

Treatment Action Group and IMPAACT4TB project partners released several materials to help people affected by TB, advocates, policymakers, and implementers understand how the identification of nitrosamines in rifampicin and rifapentine may affect the safety and supply of TB medicines, and what this may mean for TB programs and patients.

The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) released its quarterly training and education newsletter (January - March 2023), sharing the latest news and updates from The Union courses.

Using a structure-guided approach, combined with biophysical characterization, researchers obtained a series of compounds with activity against clinically relevant drug-resistant TB isolates. These will support further development of much-needed additional treatment options against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Researchers identified a long-sought gene that plays a critical role in the growth and survival of the TB pathogen, offering a potential target for drug therapies. Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst

The newsletter can be accessed here. RESIST-TB released its April 2023 newsletter with the latest updates and research publications on drug-resistant TB.

Among patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), it is likely that 26% have pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) and 9% have XDR-TB, suggesting a need to strengthening TB programs and drug resistance surveillance in countries with a high MDR-TB burden. These were among findings of a review and meta-analysis published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Primary adrenal insufficiency is a common manifestation in patients with adrenal TB and contributes to mortality, according to a study published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

New research found that people living with HIV that have had pulmonary TB had broader and more potent HIV antibody responses and differences in HIV sequences predicted to be antibody resistant as compared to those without suspected or documented TB. Published in iScience, the study suggests that concomitant TB disease has a significant impact on HIV immune responses and the viruses circulating in people living with HIV.

According to meta-analysis findings published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, patients with chest X-ray changes suggestive of active TB whose microbiological test results are initially negative have an increased risk for disease progression.

According to a study published in PLOS Global Public Health, patients with concurrent TB and COVID-19 have a high risk for death. Nearly one in three patients (31 percent) with concurrent TB and COVID-19 aged 45 years and older died during the study period.

A world-leading international trial into the immune boosting benefits of the TB vaccine, bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), has found it does not protect healthcare workers against COVID-19.

A study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, showed that children aged 5 years or younger who developed pulmonary TB were more likely to subsequently wheeze and have poor lung function and reduced height and weight for their age, even after accounting for preexisting respiratory and growth conditions.

A study, presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (15-18 April 2023), showed that artificial intelligence (AI) software can detect TB from chest X-rays at an accuracy level comparable to, or better than, that of the radiologists. Source: Medscape

A studys , published in ACS Infectious Diseases, assessed a new class of antibacterial drugs called SPTs (spiropyrimidinetriones), which target the same enzyme, gyrase, as fluoroquinolones, the most prescribed class of broad-spectrum antibacterials. Five novel SPTs had high activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis gyrase. The findings support the potential of novel SPTs for treating TB, especially strains that are resistant to fluoroquinolones.

• The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease released the May 2023 issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD). It includes TB-related research publications.

• The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease released the March 2023 issue of Public Health Action,a peer-reviewed open access journal. It includes TB-related research publications. The March 2023 supplement can be accessed here